Episode 323
Introduction The Heavenly Kings are reunited to fight against the Harusame and Utsuro. Meanwhile, a certain father and son also reunite to kill the other; but not if Kagura have anything to say about it. Plot Takasugi sees his former Joui friends surrounded by Naraku and Harusame and notes the irony of Katsura and Gintoki becoming enemies of the same country they had defended from him months before. The duo responds that after dealing with their new opponents, Takasugi was next. In other words, Sakamoto translates, stay alive; he also “translates” that the three should become friends again and earns Katsura’s, Gintoki’s, and even Takasugi’s, wrath. Gintoki then adds that this wasn’t the state they were against. In one of the Harusame ships, Utsuro sees Shouyou’s students back together and admits to feeling the phantom feelings of his previous personality at their assemble, just to be killed by him. Three tank burst out of the ground surrounding the four while Takasugi reveals that he had some idea about the link between Utsuro and Shouyou. Similar to Gintoki, he understood that Shouyou had been struggling against his own darkness and believed that only Shouyou (or truly his darkness) had a hand with his capture and death. The darkness was unleashed and was responsible to the state of the world as it is now; thus his goal of destruction, getting rid of the world that Utsuro helped create. Utsuro orders the tanks to fire with a direct hit, but Bansai proclaims that the quartet can’t be stopped now. The four survive the blasts and orders their allies fight the Naraku while they fight the tanks. Fighting through the Naraku, Katsura thinks back to after Shouyou’s execution where he, Takasugi, and Gintoki not only buried their dead comrades and teacher and went their separate ways, but they also buried “themselves”. The trio kept Shouyou’s teachings, struggling and living along the way in their own paths, which lead to them meeting each other again after seemingly the opposite. The Joui faction leader didn’t know if their re-encounter was by chance or by design, but admits to himself that if they can just for a moment return to being friends, then it will be fine. The quartet, with skills and teamwork, easily defeats the tanks to the Harusame’s shock while their allies also fight through the Naraku, emboldened by the strength of the four. Sakamoto thinks to himself how much he missed fighting with the other three again, to the point of not caring about the outcome of their battle, though he believes that the others won’t take to kindly to that kind of thinking. Sakamoto tells Katsura and Takasugi that the three will create a fake retreat to distract the enemy, while Gintoki use the distraction to go ahead into the higher cliffs. He reminds the stunned silver-haired man that they were also here to help his new friends. Katsura adds that Gintoki will lead said new comrades into Japan’s future while Takasugi proclaims to Shinpachi, who was riding Sadaharu, that the teen should make sure to keep Gintoki alive. Gintoki climbs on top of the dog and the three go on while Sakamoto, Takasugi, and Katsura and their allies stay behind to face the approaching Naraku. The Kaientai leader then admits that even if the four never meet again, they were still friends that will proudly stand by each others’ side until the end. Back on Utsuro’s ship, the immortal orders his ship to land so he can deal with “his” students himself. Oboro then calls him from the ground, appearing increasingly ill, and declares that as one of Utsuro’s other disciples, he will discipline the others for him as his last duty. The call is interrupted by a distress call from a pirate from the 9th division asking for reinforcements as both Umibouzu and another person had mostly annihilated both air and ground troops, but his call is cut off when Umibouzu destroyed the ship the pirate was in. The Yato Hunter, Abuto and a few of the 7th division were the only survivors of the clash between them and the Harusame but they see on top of a large cliff more pirates lead by Shirei. Umibouzu wonders why Abuto still didn’t decide to leave but the vice-commander counters with an inquiry of whether the father really wanted to kill his son and what was his true goal. Umibouzu had no answer and concedes that he had no clue on how to have a normal father-son spat; all he knew was fighting. Shirei calls for his weapon while proclaiming how much he found a worthy opponent to battle against. He is then suddenly sliced in half by his own weapon, wielded by someone who decided to take the 1st division commander’s place as his father’s opponent, Kamui. Shirei’s men attack and Kamui dodges before slicing off a large part of the cliff containing them, falling towards Umibouzu. The hunter punched the boulder in half before it landed on him and Kamui followed it up by striking him with the stolen sword. Umibouzu blocks the sword with his umbrella then shatters the sword with a kick, leading to them punching each other across the field. Abuto calls out to the two men to stop fighting with little avail and now believes that no one can stop their fight. Throughout the fight, Kamui thinks about how much stronger he became, taking his father’s words to heart and after their fight that nearly killed him. He can finally show how much he surpassed Umibouzu by killing him and pleads to the older man to discard their familial bonds and fight like beast, also believing that no one can stop their fight. When the two men rush towards each other, Umibouzu pauses due to the phantom memory of child Kagura stopping him years before then sees present Kagura stopping Kamui by his arm, telling them that she will stop their fights and wishes for them to be a family again. Shinpachi and Gintoki mow through the Harusame while on Sadaharu, looking for Kagura. Gintoki notices a path of corpses that they believe was by Umibouzu’s hand. Shinpachi suspects that he was protecting Kamui from them but Gintoki wasn’t sure, adding that the son wants nothing more then to kill the father and both knew that Kagura won’t be too far behind. Gintoki tells the teen they need to hurry, uneasy on how the pirates were retreating despite having an ample opportunity on wiping out Umibouzu and Kamui. Back to said family, Kagura pleads to the two males to stop fighting and return to being a family; Kamui insists it’s too late before dislocating his shoulder and flipping her into the ground then kicking her away. He decides to attack her, thanking her for giving him a chance to bring out Umibouzu's inner beast by using her death as a catalyst with Umibouzu rushing to stop him. But Kagura stops her older brother with a boot to his face, stating that she changed as well before grabbing and throwing him into the cliff face. She declares that Kamui was the only one who hasn’t changed, a crybaby putting on a brave face; everyone else has moved on and left him behind. The siblings continue to fight, Kagura pleading for Kamui to come back to them, while Umibouzu, remembering how much his constant leaving affected his children, pleads for them to stop. Abuto watch on until sensing someone’s, Utsuro, arrival and he immediately calls out to the hunter, just as the Tendoushuu member runs down the cliff to strike at Kamui. Umibouzu pushes his son out the way and blocks the strike, losing his robotic arm in the process. A ship blasts their location, causing the siblings to fall down the cliffs and leaving Umibouzu to face Utsuro alone. Characters * Kiheitai ** Takasugi Shinsuke ** Kijima Matako ** Takechi Henpeita ** Kawakami Bansai * Jouishishi ** Katsura Kotarou ** Elizabeth * Kaientai ** Sakamoto Tatsuma ** Mutsu * Sakata Gintoki * Shimura Shinpachi * Sadaharu * Kagura * Harusame ** Shirei * Utsuro * Tenshouin Naraku ** Oboro * Umibouzu * 7th division ** Kamui ** Abuto Trivia Category:Episodes